Fridtjof Nansen

Fridtjof Nansen (10 October 1861-13 May 1930) was a Norwegian explorer and Fatherland League of Norway politician.

Biography
Fridtjof Nansen was born in Oslo, Norway in 1861, and he led expeditions to cross Greenland in 1888, while further expeditions pointed to important conclusions about the Arctic sea currents. In 1897, he was appointed professor for zoology and maritime research in Oslo. In 1905 he entered politics, supporting Norway's independence from Sweden. In 1906-8, he was a Norwegian legate to Britain. After World War I, he served as high commissioner of the League of Nations from 1921 to 1930. In this capacity, he was particularly concerned with relief work for refugees, and created the so-called Nansen passport, a travel document for international refugees. This was applied to refugees from Russia from 1921 to 1923, Armenia in 1924, Turkey in 1928, and the Saarland in 1935. In all, it is estimated that he helped to feed and rehabilitate some ten million refugees. The refugee passport was continued after 1946 as the London Travel Document of 1946, and the 1951 Travel Document of the Geneva Refugee Convention. In 1922, he received the Nobel Peace Prize.